Betsy

Welcome to our final day of product reveals and projects for our first release! The store will open tomorrow and everything that we’ve been showcasing will go up for sale at 10AM ET.

Let’s dig into today’s products!

Katie’s Cuties: Panda Stamps & Dies

Everybody needs a little cuteness in their lives! The Katie’s Cutie’s collection of stamps brings you just that. This adorable panda bear is ready to be stamped and colored. The matching branch is the perfect place for him to hang out. Color this cutie with your favorite coloring method, such as colored pencils, watercolors, or markers! Try pairing this cute Panda with our BotaniCuts Bamboo dies!

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BotaniCuts Bamboo Die

The BotaniCuts collection is a series of stand alone dies for cutting various botanical designs. The BotaniCuts Bamboo set consists of two different sizes of bamboo shoots, plus lots of leaves for creating a layered look. The two shoots are sized perfectly for A2 cards. Stack a few shoots for a simple design, fill your card front to create a jungle, or create a frame! Keep it simple by cutting them from colored cardstock, or have fun experimenting with your favorite coloring method, such as ink blending, watercolor, markers, and more!

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To aid in your planning and list making, below you will find the prices for today’s products.

• Katie’s Cuties: Panda 3″ x 4″ stamp set – $7
• Katie’s Cuties: Pand die collection – $11
• BotaniCuts Bamboo die collection – $19

Now I’m excited to show you some projects using these new products!

For my first card, I watercolored a couple of the pandas and branches from the set. They’re just hanging out, munching on their bamboo. 🙂 The background was done by sponging some Distress Oxide inks, and then spritzing with water.

TIP: Pandas are black and white, but to make your colored images more interesting, add highlights and shadows using other colors. Just like in the real world, black is never just black, and white is never just white! If you look closely here you can see that the white portions has subtle gray/blue and yellow shading, while the black areas have lighter gray, and also a bit of blue!

My next card was not created by me! As I said in the sneak peek of this set, the images were based on drawings by my daughter Katie. She made this card for you today, using the panda she helped design! Can I just say that I’m excited to have finally converted one of my family members over to the dark side! 😀 I think she did a great job on this card. She created a little jungle for the panda using the new BotaniCuts Bamboo die, which were sponged with some Distress Oxide inks and also spritzed with a bit of gold shimmer mist. The panda was colored with colored pencils.

My next card uses that sweet panda paired with the Fir & Foliage No. 1 stencil to create a tree-top home for him. I cut an oval window from a cardstock panel to create a space for my scene. Then I perched him on the branch from the set, and added a sentiment from the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You set. I used the Fir & Foliage stencil around the edges, sometimes turning it at an angle to get the areas of the tree where I wanted them. The panda was colored with Copic markers.

One last panda card for you! This one was colored with colored pencils and nestled in some bamboo, which was watercolored. I wanted to create a fun background for this card, so I sponged some polka dots. I used one of my small finger blending sponges, which worked perfectly! They almost look furry…perfect to pair with the panda. The sentiment here is a combination of the sentiment from the panda set, paired with a sentiment and some dies from the Sentiment Suite set.

Now for something a little different! The BotaniCuts Bamboo die can definitely be used for more than just cute projects. It can also be very elegant. Here I used the bamboo die to emboss my front card panel. I ran them through my diecut machine with an embossing mat several times across a cardstock panel, then sponged over them with some Oxide inks. Then I diecut the bamboo from black cardstock, and cut the leaf details from gold shimmer cardstock. The sentiment is from the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You set, stamped onto a die from the matching die set, and heat embossed with gold.

One more project using the BotaniCuts Bamboo that’s more on the elegant side – this time combined with one of the sentiments from the Comforting Commands set. The two sizes of bamboo shoots in the die set are sized just right to fit on an A2 card so that you can create a pretty frame. I did just that here and surrounded the pretty “Be still…” sentiment. I cut the bamboo from green cardstock, then just sponged some ink to add a bit of shading. I also added some gold to the scored details with a gold pen. The inside is finished off with the matching sentiment from the Comforting Commands set and a few more bamboo shoots.

Well, you have officially met all of the products for our very first release! Now you can greet today’s products with a comment, and a chance to win…

• Comment here on the blog for one entry (one comment per person)
• Comment on our guests’ blogs for more entries (one comment per person, per blog)
• Comments close at Midnight ET on Thursday, April 25
• Winners will be posted at 7am ET on Friday, April 26th here on the blog

A note about tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day! The products will go live at 10am ET in the shop! We have decided that in an effort to make everything go as smoothly as possible, we will open the storefront at 7am ET – the same time that a blog post will go up here on the blog. The products however, will be marked with a “coming soon” label and you will not be able to add them to your cart. You will be able to take a look around, get familiar with our site, create an account, etc. As advertised, the “coming soon” label will be removed at 10am ET and you will be able to shop!

And now for a special shout-out to our guests today! Click on the images to visit their blogs and see what they’ve created with today’s products! Leave them a comment for an extra chance at winning that gift card!

Thank you SO much for joining me this week! I hope you had as much fun as I did! And I hope to see you back here tomorrow for the big day! A post will go up here

Are you ready to meet more of our very first collection? Welcome to today’s Meet & Greet! Let’s meet today’s new products…

BotaniCuts Succulent Die

The BotaniCuts collection is a series of stand alone dies for cutting various botanical designs. This BotaniCuts Succulent set creates two sizes of layered succulent blooms. Keep it simple by cutting them from colored cardstock, or have fun experimenting with your favorite coloring method, such as ink blending, watercolor, markers, and more!

Approximate measurements:
large assembled succulent – 2.7″ x 2″
small assembled succulent – 2″ x 1.5″

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Terrarium Dies

These stand alone dies cut adorable miniature terrariums. Fill them up with flowers, succulents, or any number of other things from your collection. The outer terrarium shape and the inner design are separate dies, allowing you to cut a solid terrarium-shaped layer, or use both dies to cut the more detailed design. These are perfect for creating shaped cards or shaker elements!

Small measures appx. 2.9″ x 3.7″
Large measures appx. 4.2″ x 5.4″

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Sentiment Suite Stamps & Dies

Do you ever find yourself hunting for the perfect sentiment to finish your card? The Sentiment Suite series of stamps will cover the most popular card making occasions, with sentiments in many different layouts. You’re sure to find the perfect fit for your project, whether it’s a one-line sentiment that spans the width of the card, a small sentiment for a tag, or even the perfect saying to stamp on the inside!

The Sentiment Suite Thinking of You set has stamps for many different occasions, including birthday, get well, encouragement, and more.

Pair these sentiments with the Sentiment Suite Basics dies for a variety of layering options! The different banners can be flipped, turned, and rotated for lots of different applications. The set also includes a couple of small tags for even more options!

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• BotaniCuts Succulent die – $19
• Terrarium Large die – $22
• Terrarium Small die – $11
• Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You stamp set – $15
• Sentiment Suite: Basics die – $19

I put together a video for you, showing you how the BotaniCuts Succulents dies are assembled, as well as how you can add color using ink blending. I’ll be sharing some more videos in the coming weeks, including one on how to watercolor the succulent dies!

Now for some projects! I’ve been about to burst waiting to show you today’s projects! 🙂

One of the first things I was dying to make with the BotaniCuts Succulents and Terrarium dies were shaped notecards. Here I used the small terrarium die along with the small succulent from the die set. Aren’t they just the cutest? They are simple to put together, too. I diecut one detail terrarium from white cardstock and attached it to a solid terrarium cut from acetate. I also cut a solid terrarium from white cardstock. I attached the two layers together by gluing the two top rings together to create the notecard. So fun! They *just* fit inside a gift card envelope (4″x2.7″ envelopes). The small tags at the top are from the Sentiment Suite: Basics die set. Some were stamped with a sentiment from that set (with a coordinating sentiment stamped inside), and some were stamped with the “for you” sentiment from the Hand in Hand set that was introduced on Monday. I also added a few leaves from a Bamboo die that you’ll be seeing more of tomorrow.

Next I have a few more shaped cards, this time using the Large Terrarium die. This first one is filled with a couple of the BotaniCuts Succulents dies, which were watercolored. I’ll be sharing a video in the coming weeks! Again here I used some leaves from the Bamboo die we’ll be showcasing tomorrow to fill in around the succulents. The sentiments and the diecuts they’re stamped on are from the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You set and the Sentiment Suite: Basics dies.

This next one again uses the large terrarium die to create a shaped card. This time I filled it with blooms from the Fleur Impressions set we showcased yesterday. Again the sentiment and diecut it’s stamped on are from the Sentiment Suite collection. I love that there are lots of options in the Sentiment Suite set for how and where I want to place my sentiment.

This next project is one that I was really busting to show you! It’s one of those that once you finish, you walk around the house and show all of your family members, and then text a couple of crafty friends, because you know…you just can’t help it! 🙂 I turned the Terrarium dies into treat boxes filled with diecut succulents and…chocolate rocks! Ah! The succulents here were cut from colored cardstock (shades of green) and then sponged with ink to add some shading. The succulents are super quick to put together when you do them that way! I purchased the chocolate rocks from Amazon. They are so real looking (and taste really good too!)

I put together a video showing you how to turn the Terrarium dies into boxes. It’s pretty simple to do just by adding a side panel!

My next project for today shows how you can use the Terrarium dies on a card front. Here I used just the detail portion from the small terrarium die to cut a window in my card front. Then I diecut a separate small terrarium and layered it over the window cut-out. I filled it with flowers from the Fleur Impressions set. The sentiments are from the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You set. One of the things I’m most excited about with the Sentiment Suite is the sentiments that are designed to go on the insides! I like to have something stamped on the insides of my cards when I give them, so I’m excited to have these. I like that you get just a peek of that inside sentiment through the terrarium cut-out.

And one last card for you today using the BotaniCuts Succulents dies. If you’re not into coloring, that’s ok! They look great cut from colored cardstock too. Here I cut them from shades of green, then just sponged some deeper green ink around the edges of each layer. I used them to surround an oval cut-out on the front of a card. The woodgrain patterned paper from my patterned paper stash was the perfect complement. The sentiment is stamped on the inside of the card, and it’s from the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You set, of course. A few little sprigs from the Bamboo die being showcased tomorrow were used as bits of filler between the succulents.

Now that you’ve met today’s products, it’s time to greet them with a comment! Tell us what caught your eye today and you’ll be entered to win a $50 Gift Card! Read on for the rules…

• Comment here on the blog for one entry (one comment per person)
• Comment on our guests’ blogs for more entries (one comment per person, per blog)
• Comments close at Midnight ET on Thursday, April 25
• Winners will be posted at 7am ET on Friday, April 26th here on the blog

Now it’s time to meet today’s guests! Click on the images to visit their blogs! I think you’re going to love what they created today!

Tomorrow is our last day of projects and product reveals before the shop opens on Friday! I hope you’re enjoying the week!

Thank you so much for joining me again today as I reveal more of what’s to come for our first ever product release! Just a reminder, the store portion of our website will open at 10am ET on Friday, April 26th and all of our new products will be available for purchase!

We’re revealing two more sets from our very first collection today!

Fleur Impressions

The first set is called Fleur Impressions. Bring the look of watercolored flowers to your projects without picking up a paintbrush! The Fleur Impressions stamp set was adapted directly from watercolored images. You’ll love watching these images come to life through stamps and ink. Have fun playing with color on the multi-step blooms. Create beautiful one-layer cards, or pair these images with the matching Fleur Impressions dies to create dramatic layered bouquets. This set is one you’ll reach for again and again for beautiful, elegant projects!

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Comforting Commands

The second set being showcased today is called Comforting Commands. The Comforting Commands set is perfect for those occasions when finding the right words can be difficult. There are four main sentiments, and a smaller companion sentiment for each, perfect for stamping on the inside of a card. An optional scripture reference stamp has been included for each of the main sentiments. Three of the sentiments in the set can be used to send comfort or encouragement, while the fourth in the set is more celebratory, perfect for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and so much more!

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• Fleur Impressions stamp set – $18
• Fleur Impressions die – $18
• Comforting Commands stamp set – $15
• Comforting Commands die – $23

I’m so excited to share my projects using these new sets, as well as what today’s special guests have created! So let’s get to it…

My first card takes a little different approach to using a floral set. I typically use the different flowers to build bouquets and clusters. For this card I decided to create an all-over design to cover my entire card front using the Fleur Impressions set! I love stamping multi-step images using my stamp positioning tool. I set it up and just stamp away using all sorts of different colors. After spending most of an afternoon doing that, I had a whole pile of gorgeous color! I had fun arranging several of those onto this card front, and then topping it off with the “let us rejoice…” sentiment from the Comforting Commands set. The inside is finished with a few more blooms and one of the smaller coordinating sentiments from the Comforting Commands set. Wouldn’t it make a perfect wedding card?!

My next card uses the Fir & Foliage No. 1 trees that were introduced yesterday along with some ink blending to create a dramatic sunset. I omitted the solid base layer for the tree-tops and only stamped the middle step to give the trees an airier look. They were inked with mostly black ink, but the edges of the tree stamp were sponged with some orange to mimic the way a sunset can set the trees ablaze. The hill at the base was done using the solid portion of the Pathway stencil that was showcased yesterday. I added some white ink splatters to look like stars, and finished it off with this perfect sentiment from the Comforting Commands set. The inside was sponged with the same inks, and stamped with the complementary sentiment from the Comforting Commands set.

As you can see, the Fleur Impressions set is perfect for creating pretty bouquets, too! This card came together so easily. I love the way the large peonies on this one turned out. They were stamped using Distress Oxide inks in shades of yellow, orange, pink, and coral. I like to apply the ink with sponges so that I can blend it directly on the stamp before stamping it. Once again the inside is finished off with a smaller sentiment from the set and a few more blooms.

The smaller flowers and leaves from the Fleur Impressions set can be used to create pretty wreaths, too. Here I created a wreath of diecuts around the pretty sentiment from the Comforting Commands set. I stamped leaves in various shades of green all the way around the edges of the card front as well.

Now that you’ve had a chance to meet today’s products, you can greet them by leaving a comment, telling us what caught your eye in today’s post! Your comment is your entry for a chance to win. Read on for details…

• Comment here on the blog for one entry (one comment per person)
• Comment on our guests’ blogs for more entries (one comment per person, per blog)
• Comments close at Midnight ET on Thursday, April 25
• Winners will be posted at 7am ET on Friday, April 26th here on the blog

Here are today’s special guests! Click on the graphics to visit their blogs and see what they’ve created with the Fluer Impressions and Comforting Commands sets – you’re in for a real treat!

I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for Day 3 of products and projects!

Good morning! Are you ready for today? I’m taking a deep breath before I dive in and start showing you everything from our very first collection! I can hardly believe the day is here, and we’re just a few days from launching our store!

Without further ado, welcome to our first ever New Product Meet & Greet here at The Greetery! What is a product meet & greet? Just like it sounds…first you get to “meet” the new products as we introduce them. Then you can “greet” them by leaving a comment for a chance to win a gift certificate! Details on how to win will be at the bottom of this post.

After we’re through with the product introductions, I’ll show you some projects. We have several amazing guests with us this week also, and I’m so excited that they were able to join in on the launch! I can’t wait for you to see what they’ve made with these new products, so be sure to click the links to their blogs and give them some oohs and aahs! 🙂

Now for the product introductions…

Hand in Hand Stamps & Dies

Today’s products are some things I’ve had in mind to create for a long time. The first set is called Hand in Hand, and consists of a stamp set and matching dies.

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The images in the Hand in Hand set can be combined in many different ways. You can choose to use each person by themselves, or grouped with any of the others. They can also hold either the umbrella or the dog’s leash!

Fir & Foliage No. 1 Stamps & Dies

The other set being showcased today is called Fir & Foliage No. 1. This set creates beautifully detailed multi-step trees in two sizes. They are wonderful for scene-building and work perfectly with the Hand in Hand set.

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Stencils

The last products being showcased today are stencils. We are releasing two different stencils, and they both work wonderfully for scene-building and as companions for the other products I’ve just introduced.

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The Pathway stencil is a two-step stencil consisting of a solid pathway and a cobblestone detail. The solid portion of the pathway is included in the stencil. Simply snip it apart from the base to use as a mask.

The Fir & Foliage No. 1 stencil set is a three-step layering stencil. It creates a tree very similar to those in the Fir & Foliage No. 1 stamp set, but on a larger scale, so it works great for pairing with the stamp set to give your projects lots of depth and dimension!

I put together a video for you, showing you these stencils in action!

To aid in your list-making and planning, below you will find the prices for today’s products.

• Hand in Hand stamp set – $15
• Hand in Hand Die – $21
• Fir & Foliage No. 1 stamp set – $24
• Fir & Foliage No. 1 die – $18
• Fir & Foliage No. 1 3-step stencil – $9
• Pathway Stencil – $6

Now for the fun part! Let’s get on to the projects using these new sets!

The Hand in Hand set is so fun to color using your favorite medium and technique, whether that’s markers, colored pencils, watercolor, or something else. For this sweet Mother’s Day card I used the no-line watercolor technique to bring these images to life. I’ll be doing some video tutorials for coloring these images, so stay tuned for more info on that! I also used both of the new stencils on this card to finish off the scene.

My next project has a much different feel! I wanted to create the look of a rainy night in the city. I started out by sponging bright Distress Oxide inks onto my background to mimic the look of city lights. The woman was colored with colored pencils.

TIP: To make your colored images more lively, it helps to incorporate lots of different colors. You’ll notice in both of the cards above, their clothing incorporates some of the colors from their surroundings to mimic the look of warm sunshine as in this first project, or reflections as in the second.

I did some no-line watercoloring once again for this next project. It’s one of my favorite techniques! This time I just used the little girl and gave her the umbrella. Doesn’t it look like she’s skipping happily through the puddles?! I tried something fun with the Pathway stencil here – I embossed it by running it through my machine with an embossing pad. Then I watercolored the stones to give them a realistic look! I used the Fir & Foliage No. 1 stencil to add the branches along the edges to draw your eye in to the scene. The grass and flowers along the path were done freehand.

Blog Tip: You can click on any of the images in this post to get a closer look. When you click on them, you’ll also see a comment form where you can leave a comment or ask questions about how something was done or what supplies were used!

This next project again uses no-line watercoloring for a Father’s Day card. I used the man, boy, and dog for this one. I love the dog, but that little boy might be my favorite from the set! I started the background with kraft cardstock and used Distress Oxide inks for the stamping and stenciling. Using the Fir & Foliage stamps and stencils together gives you a nice variety of sizes for the trees and creates lots of realistic depth.

I had to go against everything in me that’s wishing for spring weather right now to create this next project! 🙂 But I really wanted to experiment with creating some wintery effects using these new sets. I colored this red-clad couple and their umbrella using colored pencils. The trees were done with the Fir & Foliage stencils. I used the trunk stencil along with the detail portion of the tree-top with some embossing paste to add snow to the branches. I also added some white ink splatters once my card was finished, to mimic the look of falling snow.

My next card uses just the Fir & Foliage No. 1 stamps. These trees are perfect for any season, making them something you’ll want to reach for over and over, all year long. I had fun experimenting with stamping them in vibrant autumn colors. The sentiment and the dies they’re stamped on are from the new Sentiment Suite set that we’ll be showcasing later this week.

TIP: The solid portion of the Pathway stencil can be used as a mask to create hills. I used this technique on both the autumn tree and winter scene cards!

Now that you’ve gotten to meet all of today’s new products, you can “greet” them for a chance to win a $50 gift card! Read on for details…

• Comment here on the blog for one entry (one comment per person)
• Comment on our guests’ blogs for more entries (one comment per person, per blog)
• Comments close at Midnight ET on Thursday, April 25
• Winners will be posted at 7am ET on Friday, April 26th here on the blog

Without further ado, our amazing guests for today!
(click on the images to visit their blogs)

Thanks for visiting today! We’ll be back tomorrow for another day of product reveals and projects!